Why all Americans should honor Juneteenth

An historian explains the history and significance of the holiday.

Note: This video was previously titled, "Juneteenth, explained." The title has been changed to better reflect the video's content.

When American schoolchildren learn about chattel slavery in the US, we’re often told it ended with Abraham Lincoln’s signature on the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863.

But, as late as June 19, 1865, enslaved people in Texas were still held in bondage. On that date, the Federal troops entered the state and began to punish slave holders and former confederates who refused to obey the law.

“Juneteenth is a deeply emotional moment for enslaved people,” says historian Karlos K. Hill, of the University of Oklahoma.

In Texas and across the country, emancipated African Americans began celebrating annually, with parades, concerts, and picnics. “Being able to go wherever they want and being able to wander about; for enslaved people, it was an expression of their freedom,” says Hill. “Formerly enslaved people celebrating, in public, their newfound freedom, was an act of resistance.”

However, by 1877, the Federal government had largely abandoned the South. The lynching era— when hundreds of African Americans were killed by white mobs each year across the North and the South— began soon after.

Today, Dr. Hill says, commemorating Juneteenth is important for all Americans because it helps us see all the ways that slavery still shapes this country, including, as he says, “the desire to master and dominate black bodies.”